Separately, the HM Prison Servicedisclosed that confidential personal details of dozens of prisoners intended to be sent to Norfolk police were instead delivered to a private company. The letters gave names, criminal histories and addresses of more than 40 serious offenders that were being released - including pedophiles.

Similarly, the National Health Service (NHS) that Sefton Primary Care Trust has sent thousands of staff records to four private companies by mistake. The personal details included dates of birth, national insurance numbers, pensions and salary details.

Then yesterday, the NHS also confirmed that a computer disc containing the names, dates of birth and addresses of 160,000 children data was sent to St Leonard's Hospital in Hackney but failed to reach the right department - even though it was signed for by hospital staff. At least in this case, the data was encrypted using a 256 bit cipher.